Pop-up podiatry putting spring in students' steps

The development of both online and off-line ‘pop-up’ taster sessions will be aimed at learners from schools, colleges and communities where people are less likely to go into higher education.

This is one of a number of new schemes benefiting from new £225,000 funding from the Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator for higher education in England. The money is coming from the OfS’s health education Challenge Fund which aims to increase the number of students taking up specialist healthcare courses.

The successful bids will support existing and new students of podiatry and therapeutic radiography. Both disciplines have been identified as vulnerable because of decreasing recruitment and retention in higher education courses

Dr Simon Otter, Principal Lecturer in podiatry in the university’s School of Health Sciences, said: “The university’s podiatry team is excited to receive this funding to help develop a package of offline and online recruitment tools which can be used by podiatrists. Once the packages have been completed, we would seek to engage as many colleagues as possible to join us on piloting work to help promote not only courses at the university but also podiatry as a career for wider audiences.”

Dr Simon Otter

The university is the only institution involved in two projects funded by the OfS grants. Led by the University of Salford, the university and partners will be launching ‘Increasing the diversity of podiatry placements to support the future of podiatry education’.

Dr Otter explained: “We are seeking to increase the capacity for podiatry course placements by producing models for alternative placements. We aim to support both placement providers and students to prepare for their placement and to ensure students benefit from the learning that will take place in these new settings, enhancing their ability, employability and success as graduates.”